Railway draft appliance.



E. L. BRADFORD & G. P. RITTER.

RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 16.1914.

1,148,006. Patented July 27, 1915.

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E. L. BRADFORD & G. P. BITTER.

RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED IULY I6; I9I4.

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UNTTED STATES OFFTCE.

EDWIN L. BEADEoED, 0E TAKOMA AR ANDG 'LDERT r. BITTER, or WASH NGTON,

DISTRICT OF ooLUMEIA, ssIGNoRS 'IO McCONWAY & TORLEY coMPANY, or PITTS-BURGI-I, PENNSYLVANIA, A coEroItA mN OF PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1915.

Application filed July 16, 1914. Serial No. 851,372.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWIN L. BRADFORD and GILBERT P. BITTER, citizensof the United States, residing, respectively, at Takoma Park, in theDistrict of Columbia, and at Washingtomin the District of Columbia,

have invented certain new and useful Im-. provements in Railway DraftApphances,

and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to the construction of draft appliances forrailway vehicles and particularly to that class of car couplers whichare designed to be pivotally attached to the vehicle so as to be capableof swinging to either side of their normal or centralized positions whenthe cars to which they are attached are passing around a curve.

It is the object of the invention to provide a draft appliance of thecharacter indicated which is of simple and compact form, eflicient inoperation, and easily assembled or repaired.

Generally stated, these several objects are effected by employingcoupler centralizing means for returning the pivoted coupler to normalposition which involvea spring and a lever device that includes aplurality of levers which project laterally from opposite sides of thestem of the coupler and which fulcrum upon and'are rotatable withrespect to said coupler about independent fulcrums.

In the drawings illustrating the invention, the scope whereof is pointedout in the claims, Figure 1 is a view, partly in plan and partly inhorizontal central Section, of a draft appliance embodying ourinvention, the adjacentportion of the car to which it is attached beingalso shown; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the draft applianceillustrated in Fig. 1, a portion of a well known form of draft gearbeing also illustrated for the purpose of showing the relation of theinvention thereto; Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1, butillustrating the draft ape pliance in a laterally displaced position;Fig. A is a section on the line 4t, Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a detail view,partly in elevation and partly in section, illustrating ad acentportions of the lever device and coupler stem; and Fig. 6 is a detailelevation of the lever device.

- Our invention has been illustratedas applied toa swinging couplerhaving a pivotal connection between the coupler head andcoupler stem,since certain features of the invention are particularly designed forthe centralizationof a coupler head with respect to its. stem. Certainfeatures of our invention are, however, as will hereinafter appear,broadly applicable to the centralization of pivoted car couplers whetherthe head and stem thereof be rigidly or pivotally connected.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the stem of a coupler and 2 is the couplerhead. The head is preferably connected to the stem 1 by means of apivotpin 3, and the stem 1 is preferably formed with similar upper and lowerplates 4 which are united at their rear ends. As a convenient means forpivotally connecting the coupler to a car the rear end of the stem 1 maybe provided with a pivot pin opening 5 which is adapted to receive abolt 6 whereby the coupler may be attached to draft rigging devices.

Slidably mounted, upon the Stem of the coupler are two followers 7 and8, respectively. The forward. one of these followers, 8, is preferablyfashioned with an integral extension which terminates at its forward endin vertically extending shoulders 9 that are adapted to cooperate withcorresponding shoulders 10 formed upon the interior of the coupler head.Inorder that its movements with respect to the stem 1 may be properlyguided, the follower 8 is preferably provided with flanges 11' whichembrace the corresponding bars 4 of the stem. The forward extension ofthe follower 8 is provided with lateral openings 12 which permit theoscillation of the lever devices and through which the latter may beeasily inserted or withdrawn in assembling the apparatus or in makingrepairs thereto. The side walls of the extension of the follower 8 arepreferably united near their outer ends by;a web 13 which is providedwith a horizontally extending slot 14; permitting the insertion of theT-headed bolt or rod by which the'lever device is operatively connectedto the rear follower 7.

InterpoSed between therelatively movable followers 7 and 8 is alongitudinally extending spring 15 which is housed between the top andbottom plates 4: of the coupler stem. Projecting laterally in oppositedirections through the apertures 12 in the follower 8 is a lever device16 which is pivotally connected at its center with a rod 17 that extendsthrough the followers 7 and 8 and the spring 15 and which carries at itsrear end a key 18 that bears against the rear face-of the follower 7.The cylindrical head 19 of the rod 17 fits into a correspondingly curvedseat 20 at the center of the lever device which, as more particularlyshown in Fig. 6,

is provided with a central opening 21 for the passages of the body ofthe rod 17, the lateral walls of said opening being divergent rearwardlyin order to permit the lever device torotate with respect to the rod.

The lever device is preferably fashioned with a pair of levers 22 whichare united to form an integral casting. Each of the levers 22 isprovided with a distinct and independent fulcrum point 23 about which itis adapted to rotate. The fulcrums 23 for the levers 22 are preferablyfurnished by the forward outer ends of an abutment block 24 which may berigidly secured to the upper and lower members 4: of the coupler stem by'3 the block 2 1 is suitably perforated to permit the body of the rod 17to oscillate therein.

The levers 22, which extend rearwardly at an angle with respect to eachother, are of sufficient length so that when the coupler is in acentralized position each lever engages an adjacent sill 26 or similarpart of the car. The forward exterior face of each lever 22 of the leverdevice is, as shown, preferably curved convexly, since by such aconstruction, as will be readily apparent from a comparison of Figs. 1and 3 of the drawings, the spring 15 is enabled to advantageously efiectthe centralization of the coupler through a system of variableleverages, the leverage of the spring to return the coupler to normalposition increasing as the lateral displacement of the coupler fromnormal position increases. As shown in Fig. 3, the convexly curved sidesof the levers 22 may be provided with hardened facings 27. By theapplication of fa'cings 27 of appropriate thickness the width of thelever device over all may be made toreadily conform to the distancebetween the sills 26 in any particular type of car or, if desired, thesame purpose may be accomplished by substituting a complete lever device16' 0f the appropriate size.

In assembling the device the rear follower 7 is placed in positionbetween the upper and lower arms 4: of the coupler stem 1. The spring 15is then seated on the follower, and the forward follower 8 is thenslipped rearwardly between the arms of the coupler stem until it bearsagainst the outer end of the spring. The abutment block 2 1 is thensecured in place and the lever device 16 is next brought into normalposition by inserting it through one or the other of the lateralopenings 12 in the forward extension of the follower 8. The T-headed rod17 is then inserted from the front of the coupler stem through the slot14 at the forward end of the extension of the follower 8, the body ofsaid rod passing through the apertures in the lever device 16, theabutment block 24, the forward follower 8 and the rear follower 7, andits head 18 being brought to rest in the seat 20 provided therefor atthe center of the lever device 16. The parts are then secured in thisassembled position by forcing the key 18 through the eye in the rear endof the rod 17, such key, as shown, being preferably tapered somewhat sothat, upon being driven into assembled position at the rear of thefollower 7, it causes the spring 15 to be placed under some initialtension. The key 18 may be retained in position by a cotter pin 28. Thecoupler head 2 is then positioned on the outer end of the coupler stem 1and these two parts are pivotally connected by means of the pin 3.

The construction being substantially such as hereinbefore pointed out,the operation of the device will be as follows: Assuming the coupler tobe resting upon the carrier iron 29 midway between the center sills 26of the car, the several parts will occupy the relative'positionsillustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 1. Vhen the car passes around a curve thecoupler swings laterally in a corresponding direction and the head 2 ofthe coupler may also turn with respect to the, coupler stem 1. As one ofthe levers 22 of the lever device 16 is in contact with the neighboringsill 26 of the car during the lateral movement of the coupler, the leverdevice is caused to rotate with respect to the coupler stem 1, suchturning movement occurring about that fulcrum point 23 which is upon theside of the coupler stem adjacent to the lever 22 which is in engagementwith its sill 26. This rotation of the lever device causes the T-headedrod 17 to be drawn forwardly, thus causing a corresponding forwardmovement of the rear follower 7 and thereby compressing the spring 15against the follower 8. When the force causing the lateral displacementof the coupler has ceased to act the expansion of the spring 15 causesthe follower 7 and rod 17 to move rearwardly, thus causing the leverdevice 16 to rotate about the appropriate fulcrum point 23 and return tonormal position, the return of the coupler stem to centralized positionbeing necessarily attendant upon the return of thelever device 16 tonormal position.

When the coupler head 2 rotates upon the pivot pin 3 with respect to thecoupler stem 1 one or the other of the vertically extending shoulders 10upon said head remains in engagement with the corresponding shoulder 9at theouter end of the forward extension of the follower 8, the turningmovement of said head while thus in engagement with the face 8 of thefollower causing the latter to move rearwardly and compress the spring15 against the rear follower 7 which latter is prevented from retreatingby reason of the fact that the lever device 16 bearing against theabutment block 24 is connected to the rear follower 7 by the rod 17 Uponthe cessation of the force causing the displacementof the coupler head 2from its normal position with respect to the stem 1, the spring 15forces the follower 8 forwardly until it reassumes the normal position,the coupler head being thereby rotated upon the pivot pin 3 until italso has reassumed its normal position.

As shown in Fig. 3, the coupler stem 1 may turn upon its pivot pin whilethe coupler head 2 simultaneously rotates aboutits pivot pin Under suchcircumstances both of the operations heretofore described-concurrentlyoccur, the lateral displacement of the stem 1 operating to cause thefollower 7 to move the rear end of the spring 15 forwardly, while therotation of the head 2 serves to cause the follower 8 to force theforward end of the spring 15 rearwardly, the spring being thussimultaneously compressed from both ends and the coupler stem andcoupler head both being thereby con-' stantly supported in a yieldingmanner.

7e claim:

1. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stemwhich is provided with means whereby it may be pivotally connected to arailway vehicle, of a coupler head pivotally mounted on said stem, andmeans mounted on said stem for normally maintaining said head and stemin centralized position, said means being operative to centralize saidhead with respect to said stem and involving a spring which extendsinthe direction of length of said stem and which is energized by thelateral displace ment of said stem from centralized position.

2. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stemwhich is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of, acoupler head which is pivotally mounted on said stem, a plurality ofrelatively movable followers, spring means operatively interposedbetween said followers, means whereby a rotation of said stem in eitherdirection from its normal position will cause the movement of one ofsaid followers, and means whereby the rotation in either direction fromnormal position of said head with respect to said stem will cause themovement of another of said followers.

3. In a'railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stemwhich is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of acoupler head which is pivotally mounted. on said stem, a spring mountedupon and extending longitudinally of said stem, means engaging andadapted to move one end of said spring to energize the same upon arotation of said stem in either direction from its normal position, andmeans engaging and adapted to move the other end of said'spring toenergize the same upon a rotation in either direction from normalposition of said head with respect to said stem.

4. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stemwhich is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of acoupler head which is pivotally mounted on said stem, a spring device,means whereby the movement of said spring device in one direction causessaid stem to be returned to normal position after displacement in eitherdirection from normal position, and means whereby the movement of saidspring device in the opposite direction causes said head to be returnedto normal position after displacement in either direction from itscentralized position with respect to said stem.

5. In a'railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stemwhich is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of acoupler head which is pivotally mounted on said stem, means foryieldingly resisting the pivotal displacement of said stem from normalposition, and means for yieldingly resisting the pivotal displacement ofsaid head from normal position with respect to said stem, said meansinvolving in common a spring extending longitudinally with respect tosaid stem.

6. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stemwhich is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of acoupler head pivotally mounted on said stem, a spring mounted upon andextending longitudinally with respect to said stem, a follower slidablyengaging said stem and interposed between the forward end of said springand the coupler head, a follower engaging the inner end of said spring,a lever projecting laterally from sald stem and adapted to fulcrumthereon upon a displacement of said stem from normal position,connections between said lever and said rear follower whereby the latteris moved upon a movement of said lever, and means whereby said forwardfollower is moved upon a displacement of said head from normal positionwith respect to said stem.

7 In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which isadapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a springwhich is mounted upon and extends longitudinally with respect to thestem of said coupler, a lever projecting laterally from said stem andadapted to rotate with respect thereto when pressed against a stationarypart of the vehicle as the said coupler swings laterally, and meansoperatively connecting said spring and lever, whereby said coupler maybe automatically returned to normal position after being displacedtherefrom.

8. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which isadapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of spring means,a lever device involving a plurality of levers and projecting laterallyfrom opposite sides of the stem of the coupler, said levers fulcrumingupon and being rotatable with respect to said coupler about independentfulcrums, and operative connections between said lever device and springmeans whereby the latter may be energized by said lever device.

9. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler which isadapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of means forreturning said coupler to normal position after it has been displacedtherefrom, said means including a spring and a lever device thatinvolves a plurality of rigidly connected levers which are mounted uponand project laterally from opposite sides of the stem of the coupler andwhich are adapted to engage a stationary portion of the railway vehicleand which fulcrum upon and are rotatable with respect to said 7 stemabout independent fulcrums.

10. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler whichis adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of means forreturning said coupler to normal position after it has been displacedtherefrom, said means including a spring and a lever device that arecarried by the stem of the coupler and also including means foroperatively connecting said spring and lever device, said lever devicebeing adapted to rotate with respect to said stem about a plurality ofindependent fulcrum points located intermediate of its ends, and themeans for operatively connecting said spring and lever device engagingsaid lever device between its fulcrum points.

11. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler whichis adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of means forreturning said coupler to normal position after it has been displacedtherefrom, said means including a spring and a rotatable lever which ismounted upon and attached to the stem of said coupler through saidspring.

12. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler havinga stem which is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehiclesoas to be capable of lateral movement with respect thereto, of afloating lever device involving a plurality of rigidly connected leverswhich are adapted to fulcrum upon and rotate with respect to thelaterally movable stem of said coupler about independent fulcrum points,and yielding means operatively connected to said lever device.

13. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler whichis adapted to be pivotallyconnected to a railway vehicle so as to becapable of lateral swinging movements with respect thereto, of means forreturning said coupler to normal positionafter it has been displacedtherefrom, said means including a lever device and a spring, and saidlever device involving a plurality of rigidly connected levers extendingoutwardly from opposite sides of the stem of the coupler and forming anangle with each other and adapted to fulcrum on the laterally movablestem of said coupler at independent points.

14. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler whichis adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of means forreturning said coupler to normay position after it has been displacedtherefrom, said means involving a lever device having levers whichproject outwardly from the stem of the coupler and which are providedwith curved exterior faces adapted to engage stationary parts of thevehicle and which are also adapted to turn with respect to said couplerstem on a plurality of independent fulcrum points.

15. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler whichis adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a followerslidably mounted upon the stem of said coupler, a spring acting uponsaid follower andextending longitudinally with respect to said coupler,a rod operatively connected to and adapted to move said follower in onedirection, a lever device rotatably connected to said rod and mountedupon and projecting laterally in opposite directions from the sides ofthe coupler stem, and means on the coupler stem for causing said leverdevice to rotate about independent fulcrum points accordingly as thecoupler is displaced to one side or the other from its normal position.

1.6. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler whichis adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of a followerslidably mounted on the stem of said coupler, a spring acting upon saidfollower, a rod connected to said follower and extendingthrough saidspring, a lever device rotatably attached to said rod and having rigidlyconnected levers which extendon opposite sides of said rod and which areprovided with curved exterior faces, and means whereby said lever devicemay rotate with respect to the stem of said coupler on independentfulcrum points.

17. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a coupler stemwhich is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of acoupler head pivotally mounted upon said stem, a plurality ofindependently movable followers, spring means operatively interposedbetween said followers, means whereby the position of said stem iscontrolled through the movements of one of said followers, and meanswhereby the position of said head with respect to said stem iscontrolled through the movements of another of said independentfollowers.

18. In a railway draft appliance, the c0mbination with a coupler stemwhich is adapted to be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, of acoupler head which is pivotally mounted on said stem, a plurality offollowers mounted on said stem to slide longitudinally with respectthereto, one of said followers being movable with the coupler head whenthe latter turns with respect to the stem, a spring interposed betweensaid followers, a lever device mounted on and projecting outwardly fromopposite sides of the stem, and means for operatively connecting therear follower with said lever device, said lever device being locatedbetween the said coupler head and spring and involving levers havingcurved exterior faces.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures, in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

EDWIN L. BRADFORD. GILBERT P. BITTER. Witnesses:

HUGH M. STERLING, WM. E. DYRE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner! of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

